Nick Nurse paid tribute to the Brighton Bears heroes who gave the club their first competitive win on foreign soil.

Bears overcame a seven-point deficit to beat former European champions Split 91-85 in Croatia last night.

The win is unlikely to help Bears into the last 16 of the ULEB Cup but is still a landmark result in their 30-year history.

Bears chief Nurse said: "That's a great win to come to a three-times European champion surrounded by their trophies and their NBA jerseys.

"We played with conviction and did good things all night long.

"We won the battle of the boards and we made them shoot from the perimeter."

Bears' display was packed with superb individual performances including 26 points from Kendrick Warren.

The top scorer admitted: "It was a big relief because we had been so close in other games.

"To put a team away for the first time in this competition feels so good."

Home coach Djuro Nenadic was left facing a major inquest from the Croatian media in a stormy post-match press conference.

He said: "Congratulations to Brighton. We lost the battle of the rebounds and there was no discipline."